IP: U.S. TO INVESTIGATE COMPUTER SALE. [gee I thought they

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

U.S. TO INVESTIGATE COMPUTER SALE. The U.S. Commerce Department is
investigating the sale to Russia of supercomputers to be used for
simulating nuclear tests, AFP and the Wall Street Journal reported on 19
February. Atomic Energy Minister Viktor Mikhailov announced the purchase
of four supercomputers on 13 January. A Silicon Graphics spokesman
confirmed that his company sold the machines but said the firm thought
they were going to a pollution monitoring laboratory and not to nuclear
warhead design institutes. Meanwhile, Deputy Atomic Energy Minister
Yevgenii Reshetnikov confirmed on 18 February that Russia will sell a
nuclear reactor to Cuba, and said that the U.S. is only objecting
because it wants to keep Russia out of the international market for
nuclear power stations. He also said that the U.S. firm Westinghouse had
been invited to join the project - something which U.S. law would not
allow. -- Peter Rutland